“To be honest, there have been too many bad vampire novels written and I was filled with apprehension about starting this one. However, my mind quickly shifted to Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot – and I found myself enthralled with the characters and storyline in Honor at Stake.” – Book Czar, 5-star Amazon review.

“I saw an add for this book read the description and did not have high hopes but I’m willing to give anything a try. It was pretty good starting off but then just got better and better. I loved that both main characters Marco and Amanda, were strong both in personality and physically and they did not spend the whole book babying each other which sometimes happens when reading a vampire human combo. The book took many turns and I was continually surprised and I hope in future books the supernatural world is expanded on in creatures and I info.” – Cannon mw, 5-star Amazon review.

Honor at Stake is $0.99 on Kindle today only or free on Kindle Unlimited. As of this writing, it carries a 4.4 star rating on Amazon with 86 reviews. Don’t wait – get your copy now!

One is a heartless, bloodthirsty killer. The other is a vampire.

College freshman, Amanda Colt knows few people and wants to know fewer still. She enjoys fencing and prefers facing a challenge every once in a while. She is beautiful, smart, and possibly the most interesting person on campus.

Then she finds tall, intense Marco Catalano in her fencing class. With a mind like a computer and manners of a medieval knight, he scares most people – but not Amanda.They both have secrets, for they are both monsters.

As they draw closer, they must find the line between how much they can trust each other, and how much they can care for each other. Each carries a secret that can destroy the other. But they must come to grips with their personal drama soon, because a darkness rises around them. Bodies keep turning up all over New York, and an army of vampires closes in on all sides.

The excitable amphibians that compose the Happy Frogs crack book recommendation team have been hard at work this year putting together their suggestions for the 2018 Dragon Awards! There are a ton of great recommendations this time around, and I heartily suggest that you check them all out for yourselves.

Robert Kroese’s Dream of the Iron Dragon takes their fantasy recommendation – and really, how can you go wrong with Vikings in space? Trick question – you can’t, so don’t even try to answer. They also suggest a masterpiece in alternate history: A Rambling Wreck by my friend Hans Schantz. Imagine a world in which Al Gore won the 2000 election and a secret conspiracy tries to rewrite the very nature of science. It’s awesome, even if it is about Georgia Tech (#GoDawgs!). And what can I say about The Orville? If you haven’t been watching it, drop everything and start now. It’s that good.

I’m also humbled to find that my own supernatural thriller War Demons has made the list for best horror novel. It’s an honor to be in this kind of company! The full list is below, or you can find it on the official Happy Frogs site.

Guess what I got to read this weekend that you have to wait for? Night’s Black Agents by Dragon Award nominee Daniel Humphreys. Agents is the sequel to his first urban fantasy / supernatural thriller novel, Fade. Long time readers of the blog will recall that I read Fade some time ago and absolutely loved it.

Humphreys is, in my opinion, one of the best up and coming authors out there at the moment. Which is why I bought not just Fade but the rest of the series – and by bought, I don’t just mean I purchased the ebooks. Mr. Humphreys has signed with Silver Empire for us to re-release Fade and to release the new books as they come out.

And that’s how I got to read Night’s Black Agents so early. If you’ve read Fade, I can promise that you won’t be disappointed. The sequel is phenomenal. If you haven’t yet read Fade, I suggest you hurry. Mr. Humphreys will be taking it off Amazon soon in preparation for our relaunch.

But don’t fret too much if you miss it – we’re going to have it, and Night’s Black Agents, back on Amazon very quickly. The draft I read this weekend is in very, very good shape. And hopefully we’ll have the finale, Come, Seeling Night, up within a year or so.

Excited? So ware we. But stay tuned, because we have even more amazing news on the urban fantasy front coming soon.

As I’ve mentioned before, Silver Empire will be cranking up the production pipelines hard in 2018. Earlier this week I announced that we’re bringing on author Christopher Lansdown. Back in December I announced that we’re republishing Declan Finn’s urban fantasy Love at First Bite series – and that we have another, entirely original, urban fantasy series in the work from Mr. Finn that’s already making rapid progress.

Today I’d like to announce that Silver Empire is opening submissions wide for Urban Fantasy novels. Our submission requirements are loose, but we do have some guidelines:

Minimum word count is 50,000 words. 60,000+ is preferable.

Maximum word count is 120,000 words but 90,000 or below is preferable.

While we will consider one-off novels, series with at least 5 books planned get a strong preference and will get priority. Bonus points if you’ve already written more than one book in the series. But please only send us the first book until/unless we ask for more.

Although we will consider books targeted at women and/or with female protagonists, we are primarily focused at the moment on series with male leads aimed at men.

“Supernatural thrillers” are perfectly acceptable.

While we do plan to expand into the genre in the future, we are NOT accepting submissions for Paranormal Romance at this time. The genres (and reader expectations) are distinct, and for now we want to stay firmly on the UF/ST side. If your book is on the borderline we might consider it, but only if it’s clearly on the UF/ST side of the line.

Manuscripts should be in Microsoft Word format (either DOC or DOCX is fine). We’re not overly worried about fonts, formatting, or a lot of “standard manuscript” BS. But make sure it’s legible. If we can’t read it, we won’t bother. Also, make sure the document has you’re name and contact info in it.

I mentioned in a recent post that Silver Empire is getting into Urban Fantasy in a big, big way in 2018. Today I’m excited to share some details of our roadmap. I’m pleased to announce that we’ll be republishing Declan Finn‘s multiple Dragon Award nominated Love at First Bite series. For those of you who have already read the books, there won’t be much call to buy the new ones. We’re doing only the lightest of editing touches here. But we will be getting them all new covers and putting the marketing push behind them that these books deserve.

But wait, there’s more!

In addition to this excellent series, we’ve also commissioned Mr. Finn to create an entirely new Urban Fantasy series. We’re not ready to share the details on this just yet, except that I can say a few things. The book is set in New York, the city that Mr. Finn knows so well. It does have some of the religious elements his fans love so much. And it will proudly feature the insane action that we’ve all come to expect from Mr. Finn.

Also, the one-paragraph pitch that Mr. Finn gave me is the best book pitch I’ve ever heard. And the outline for book one more than lives up to that pitch. And… book one is already half done.

Expect this new series to go live right after we finish republishing Love At First Bite.

And remember… these are steps one and two of our foray into Urban Fantasy. Stay tuned. We’ll have more to come – some of it very soon!.

After modern day paladin Peter Bishop and his friend Michael defeated the dragon over the skies of Athens, Georgia, it fled to Europe – with Peter’s girlfriend Faith in tow. Well, she’s a girl. And she’s his friend. And her stunning beauty doesn’t hurt.

Now Peter and his friends have tracked the dragon to France, where it’s living under a church and terrorizing the village. Can they slay the dragon, save the village, and rescue the girl before dawn?

I’m pleased to announce that Vigil, the latest installment in the Urban Fantasy world of Peter Bishop, is now available – and so far it’s been quite well received. But don’t take my word for it. Read for yourself what others have said:

Imagine if the 80’s cult classic Big Trouble in Little China was actually Big Trouble under an ancient French Cathedral, and based off of Christianity rather than Chinese Buddhism. Then stop imagining it and pick up this book because it is exactly as hilarious as it sounds.– Catholic Reads

Vigil is one part action flick, one part horror, one part fantasy, and all-parts fun.– Alex

The pace doesn’t let up once the action begins, and the splitting of the scenes works very well. The romance and relationships are well crafted. Love the dragon and the gargoyles as well.– Alfred

I read a LOT of sci-fi and fantasy. It takes a really good story to grab my attention and to hold it. I could. not. put. this. down. It engaged from the beginning and kept me there wondering what was next. This is only the second Newquist book I have read so far but there will be lots more.– Shugharz

I’m particularly pleased that Catholic Reads picked up on the Big Trouble in Little China similarities, as I literally had that movie in mind while writing the story. If you have half as much fun reading it as I had writing it, then you’re in for a great time.

Vigil is only $0.99 on Amazon through this Saturday, so you’ll want to pick it up now. It’s also free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers. If you missed the last installment, War Demons is also only $0.99 or free on Kindle Unlimited through Thursday.

I’m angry at Shayne Silvers over Obsidian Son, book one of The Temple Chronicles. I’m angry because I spent last night reading this book when I should have been working. I have too much of my own writing to do to go down this rabbit hole. Fear not, though, fair readers! The second draft of Vigil is 50% done, and I should have it finished by this weekend (consider joining the Order of the Sword for details on how to get a free advance review copy). That book will still be out on time in mid December. Still, I greatly enjoyed Obsidian Son.

First of all, Nate Temple is a great character. Unlike so many of the men in current Urban Fantasy, he’s not whiny or emo. I do have to admit that at the very beginning of the book I worried that he would turn into a hipster douche. And he does, in fact, carry shades of that. But only shades, and Silvers takes the character to a far greater depth. But it’s not just Temple himself. The supporting cast really breathes life into the story. Gunnar the werewolf and Indie the “Regular” stood out to me, in particular.

One thing I find particularly fascinating is the way in which Silvers incorporates several themes that I also hit upon in War Demons, while still writing a book that’s vastly different than what I wrote. It’s always fun to see similar subjects approached in new ways, and I really enjoyed Silvers’ touch on the topic.

The plot didn’t carry many surprises, but that never bothered me. At every turn I enjoyed the ride well enough that I didn’t mind a predictable destination. And one particular plot twist that I half-expected from the first quarter of the book never happened – thankfully. I might have taken off a full star if it had gone down that way. Sometimes the paths an author doesn’t take matter as much as the ones he does.

This is easily a five out of five star book. If you love urban fantasy – especially the kind with solid, masculine leads, Obsidian Son book is for you. Personally, I can’t wait to dive into the rest of the series.

As I prepared to publish and market my latest novel, War Demons, I set out in search of other, similar novels. Cursed City by William Massa quickly rose quickly to the top of my list. It turns out that male leads represent an endangered species in urban fantasy novels. Many of the books sold in the genre should actually sit in the paranormal romance category. I hold nothing against that, but War Demons doesn’t fit with that crowd at all.

Neither does Cursed City. Book one of Massa’s Shadow Detective series, this book packed in the fun. It’s pulp as hell, and I mean that in the best possible way. Mike Raven, the hero, provides a welcome breath of masculinity in an estrogen dominated genre. Furthermore, he lives up to the primary duty of a protagonist: he’s interesting.

The writing is simple and straightforward. At first, that worried me. But a few chapters in it became clear that the simple writing is intentional, in the tradition of the old school pulp writers. This kind of deliberate simple writing is actually a challenge to accomplish, and it makes the book very accessible. And if I hadn’t already overcome that objection, the twists in the final act more than compensated.

A quick, thrilling read, this book started in the middle of the action and only paused for a few breaths along the way. I give it four stars out of five, and I look forward to finishing the rest of the series. I highly recommend it to fans of male led urban fantasy. It’s available right now on Amazon for only $0.99, or you can pick it up for free on Kindle Unlimited like I did.

Longtime readers will already know that I’m a fan of Daniel Humphreys work. They’ll also know the caveat that I have to provide: Dan and I “attended” the same online writing class from Larry Correia, and we’ve participated in the same closed Facebook group that resulted from that class. He’s also provided an excellent blurb for my new novel, War Demons. With that said, these are my honest opinions on his first urban fantasy novel, Fade.

Fade is book one of the Paxton Locke series. Paxton Locke, unsurprisingly the series’ protagonist, suffered a rather unfortunate childhood. I can’t go into that too much without spoiling the book. Suffice to say, he also developed a bit of magical power. As the book begins, he’s using that power to help rid unfortunate people of the traumatized ghosts that haunt their homes. But then one of those ghosts gives him a message from beyond the grave. Everything hits the fan from there and the plot explodes.

I don’t actually want to say a lot more than that, because this book has a ton going for it in the plot department. Paxton Locke manages to out-Dresden Harry Dresden. Read it for yourself and enjoy it.

I loved Humphreys’ A Place Outside the Wild enough to give it five stars even though I’m not a fan of the zombie genre. I am, however, a fan of the urban fantasy genre. When you add Humphreys’ fantastic writing to a genre I love, the result is truly amazing. I blew through this book faster than I could blink, and my only complaint is that Dan is busy writing the sequel to his zombie book instead of this one. Thankfully, he’s nearly finished with that book, so we should be getting the sequel to Fade sooner rather than later.

If you liked War Demons, you should definitely check out Fade while you’re waiting for the sequel. It won’t disappoint you. This is one of the easiest five star reviews I’ve ever given.

Today I’m very pleased to announce the launch of my debut novel, War Demons.

When he came home, so did they…

Driven by vengeance, Michael Alexander enlisted in the Army the day after 9/11. Five years later, disillusioned and broken by the horrors he witnessed in Afghanistan, Michael returns home to Georgia seeking to begin a new life. But he didn’t come alone. Something evil followed him, and it’s leaving a path of destruction in its wake.

The police are powerless. The Army has written Michael off. Left to face down a malevolent creature first encountered in the mountains of Afghanistan, he’ll rely on his training, a homeless prophet, and estranged family members from a love lost…

But none of them expected the dragon.

Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden collides with Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter International in this supernatural thriller that goes straight to Hell!

I’m very happy with how this ended up for my first book. But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what early readers have to say:

Recommended for anyone who enjoys the more action-packed branch of urban fantasy, particularly if they wish for more explicitly Christian protagonists and story worlds without wanting to inflict the glurge of official Christian Fiction™ on themselves.

The twists and turns don’t stop and the reader will rarely, if ever, see them coming. Michael, Peter, Jim, and Abby are all well developed and dynamic characters. None of them leave the tale the same people they were when they came in. Newquist knows how to create tension (every chapter ends with a cliffhanger), but he makes sure you care about these characters before he literally throws them into the fire. War Demons is a fun quick read that will leave you looking forward to more from the world of Michael Alexander.

An excellent first novel. It has its own flavor, but I’d compare it favorably to the Monster Hunter Chronicles by Larry Coriea. Guns and monsters, good stuff.

Mr. Newquist has delivered a solid debut work in the vein of early Larry Correia or Jim Butcher. Fans of the latter two authors will devour War Demons.

You can get your Kindle edition through Amazon today for only $2.99, or free with Kindle Unlimited. If you still prefer the feel of physical books, you can get the paperback for $9.99.